Saturday, January 24, 2009

A win for the Left-Green Movement in Iceland's future?

Iceland is set to hold early parliamentary elections on May 9 after a severe economic crisis spurred mass demonstrations calling for the resignation of the government, officials at the central bank, and the Financial Supervisory Authority. I have been reading that the Left-Green Movement is likely to come out winning. According to wikipedia:

The Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð) is a left-wing, socialist, environmentalist, feminist and eco-socialist political party in Iceland.

It was founded in 1999 by a few members of Alþingi that did not approve of the planned merger of the left parties in Iceland that resulted in the founding of the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin). The Left-Green Movement focuses on socialistic values, feminism and environmentalism, as well as increased democracy and direct involvement of the people in the administration of the country. The party opposes Iceland's involvement in NATO and also the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The party rejects membership of the EU and supports the Palestinian cause in the Middle East. It supports the mutual adaptation and integration of immigrants and Icelandic society is necessary.

You can learn more about the Left-Green Movement at its official website. Iceland's economy is in an extreme state of crisis brought on by the implosion of the banking industry worldwide - the blog Iceland banking crisis video and more 2008 and 2009 has been documenting some of the fallout in the form of public protests since the proverbial wheels fell off last fall. Crises such as these can resolve in numerous ways - some leading to fascist authoritarian regimes, some leading to something more along leftist lines. If Tim is correct, the Icelanders will probably avoid the former fate. The free-wheeling days of the credit boom are gone for good - better to replace it with something humanitarian than for some form of despotic hell.